Wing-Fish Residence

St. Helena, California

This historic residence on a small flag lot in St. Helena was remodeled and expanded, with exterior finishes that included board-formed concrete, native stone, rusted steel and rustic wood elements. Local ordinances would not allow continuous privacy fences or walls, so a family of discrete stone and concrete elements were set in front of a green wall of sheared Holly Oak at the property line.

The main garden, under the canopies of two mature Valley Oaks, is primarily a ‘dry garden’, with specimen olives and spare perennial plantings emerging from crushed gravel. The outdoor fireplace and spa utilize the board-formed concrete and stone of the house, with custom steel elements. A folly gate with stone columns frames a borrowed view through the perimeter hedge of the neighbor’s orchard. In the shady breakfast garden, Japanese Maples and Oak-leaf Hydrangeas frame a stone terrace with a recirculating water feature.